NEW YORK:

An early work by French impressionist Claude Monet sold for a record $41.4 million in New York this week at an auction.

‘Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil’, an 1873 painting of a railway bridge spanning the Seine near Paris and described by Christie’s auction house as a “truly exceptional picture,” was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder.

“It is the quintessential early Monet. We will not see another one this good for a long while, I don’t suppose, unless this one lures a few out,” Christie’s honorary chairman and the evening’s auctioneer, Christopher Burge, said.

The previous record for the artist stood at $36.5 million. — AFP